COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO

__________________________________Domestic Mission Trip

THE MISSION

The beauty and assets of Colorado Springs are clear. The second largest city in Colorado is a thriving economic town with a backdrop of Pikes Peak, one of the nation’s most beautiful mountain ranges on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. The Springs is home to the United States Olympic committee and was even ranked as high as the 5th best city to live in recent years. However, amongst this beautiful city are individuals struggling with poverty, homelessness and a lack of hope. The United Way reports that over the last three years, nearly every statistic on homelessness in the Springs has been on the rise. Last year alone, figures representing individuals in a state of homelessness was up nearly 6% with youth homelessness up 7%. Homelessness is just one symptom of poverty in the community and in the shadows of a great town many others are struggling with day-to-day living.

The good news: there are many active churches and community organizations within Colorado Springs. Next Step is excited to continue in partnership with Colorado Springs, with a vision to come alongside the local church and community organizations to meet families where they are at. Our teams will participate in building projects for families in transitional housing, outreach events in the community, tangible service projects to meet the food and shelter needs of individuals living in states of at-risk homelessness or homelessness and many opportunities to share the Gospel to families that find themselves in hard times. It is our desire to support, dignify and encourage sustainable growth in this great city.

QUICK INFO

DATES AVAILABLE

June 2-8

July 7-13

June 9-15

July 14-20

June 16-22

July 21-27

June 23-29

July 28-Aug 3

June 30-July 5**

* Sunday – Friday Trip

Call for Availability on Crossed out Dates or for Winter/Spring Break Trips

AGE GROUPS ALLOWED

Middle School Students

High School Students

College Students

TRIP COST

$419/person

*This includes all accommodations, food, work project materials and programming.

TYPICAL WORK

NEW PROJECTS

LOCAL CHURCH PARTNERSHIP

This location is heavily rooted in local church partnership. Your students will work along-side multiple local church partners that are actively engaged in service and outreach in their own community. This could mean serving at a food pantry with the men’s ministry, serving meals at the local shelter with the church’s youth group are participating in a cookout at the local park.

FLS BUILDING RENOVATIONS

Next Step is excited to partner with Family Life Services in building repair and maintenance for their transitional living program. As an under-resourced nonprofit in the Springs, the large heart and energy behind their services and mission doesn’t always match the funding for much needed repairs at the FLS facility. Students will have the opportunity to work along-side FLS in building repair such as apartment remodels, flooring, roofing and landscaping.

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

MISSION MEDICAL CENTER

Next Step is currently undergoing building and repair maintenance with Mission Medical Clinic. While Mission Medical is busy providing care for and funding all efforts to the uninsured individual through medical services, they have no provisions for their 3-story medical clinic building. Next Step is eager to continue this partnership to help best serve Mission Medical’s clients with the utmost dignity.

FAMILY LIFE SERVICES

FLS has a rich tradition of helping the needs of changing families in Colorado Springs. Originally an orphanage, the 2.5 acre property was home to 34 orphaned children in 1942 before ultimately refining its mission in the 80’s to focus on rebuilding the lives of single moms and their children. FLS now facilitates life transformation of struggling single moms and their children through faith based community and a resident program and community outreach program.

HIGH PLAINS HELPING HANDS

Next Step helps with the food growing process within the High Plains operation. Whether it’s farming, building new grow beds, working with fish tanks, picking food for the pantry, or caring for the rabbits, chickens and goats on the farm – there is a lot to do in moving forward with High Plains’ dream to caring for the community with locally grown organic foods.

WORSHIP

EVENING PROGRAMMING

WORSHIP MUSICWe’ve been told our worship experience is where summer camp meets mission trip. We put together bands from all over the country to lead your students in powerful worship every night. These talented and Christ-centered musicians will help show your students that worship can be fun, worship can be exciting, and worship can bring a joy they have maybe never experienced before.

CHALLENGING MESSAGESIt is our goal to bring your students closer to Christ this week. One way we do this is through challenging evening messages. Whether your students are new to the whole God thing or devoted Christians, these messages will help them understand Christ is alive and working in their lives today and a personal relationship with Him is available.

ORIGINAL VIDEO SERIESEvery summer we produce an original video series that coincides with the evening messages. This video series is our attempt to reach your students in yet another way with powerful stories of Christ in action. We’ve featured speakers such as Francis Chan, Shane Claiborne and Propaganda. You can watch some of our past video series in our Film Section.

MYSTEP FOLLOW-UP

MyStep is an online program solely dedicated to helping your students, your church, or your ministry take the next step in a commitment to Jesus Christ. Whether you just came back from a mission trip through Next Step, or you’re just looking for another way to strengthen your faith, MyStep is for you! We created a safe environment for students to explore the faith, and experience God in new and amazing ways!

Devo Stories are one of MyStep’s most popular features. We have over 365 short video story illustrations that show the many different ways God is working in our daily lives. Whether it’s a comical lesson about the consequences of stealing or a serious conversation about a parents’ divorce, these stories help students understand God in new and real ways.

Another feature is the Prayer Wall, which provides an open and anonymous prayer forum for anyone to share their praises and concerns, and be prayed for throughout the year. Know our team is praying for these requests.

Both of these features can be installed for free on your mobile device. Simply search for Devo Stories or Prayer Wall on your phone or tablet’s app store. This makes staying connected to God and each other easier than ever!

LOGISTICS

ACCOMODATIONS

The trip is hosted at First United Methodist Church in downtown Colorado Springs. Here we will worship, eat meals, sleep and hang out. There are bathrooms in the facility and a shower trailer located 10 minutes from the church with individual shower stalls. Sleeping will be on the floor so please bring a twin air mattress and bedding. This facility does have A/C in both worship and sleeping areas.

TRANSPORTATION

This mission site is bus and van accessible. Some groups choose to fly and then rent vehicles for the week. The nearest airports are the Colorado Spring Airport (COS), located 20 minutes away. Also, there is the Denver International Airport (DEN) located about an hour away.

WHAT TO BRING

Twin Size Air Mattress

Bedding & Pillow

Water Bottle

Sunglasses

Sunscreen

Towel

Toiletries

Swim Suit

Work Shoes

Work Clothes

Casual Clothes

Work Gloves

Safety Glasses

Hammer

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

For most summer dates, please see the standard mission trip schedule below. Please plan on arriving on Sunday afternoon between 3-5pm and departing Saturday morning 8-9am. Monday-Thursday are work days and Friday will be a fun day!

For the week of June 30-July 5*, please note the trip is scheduled to end Friday morning between 8-9am. This means you would arrive Sunday afternoon between 3-5pm, Monday-Thursday are still work days, but the Friday fun day is not included. The trip ends Friday morning 8-9am. This shorter schedule is to allow our on-site staff with one long weekend in the summer for rest.

FAQS

Yes. Next Step Ministries exists to give middle school, high school, and college students an opportunity to explore their faith, experience God, and extend service to others on a mission trip. Students are our top priority and safety is always our primary concern. Thankfully, because of our long-term commitment and involvement within the community we have developed many close relationships with the locals. The community is familiar with Next Step and we’ve worked hard to humbly earn their trust and respect. Because of these close friendships we are the first to know if something out of the ordinary comes up or is unsafe.

The trip lodging facility will always be locked to ensure safety. During the day, students will be serving at homes where Next Step has already visited the family and knows who they are. Furthermore, community members select these projects, so we can ensure they are safe places for us to be. This network of community friendships allows for Next Step to engage with the community in a way that is trusted and safe.

On the first night of the trip, our staff will train and equip your team to understand safety on the construction work sites. If you’re interested in learning more about this, please visit our Construction Safety page.

We are more than happy to talk in more detail about safety on this trip. Please feel free to contact our office for further conversation regarding trip safety.

We are committed to never being in an area where we feel students are at a heightened risk to their physical, spiritual or emotional health. However, we understand we are serving in a community where safety concerns surround us at a distance. For that reason, we have created Safety Procedures available for the main leader of your trip on the Trip Dashboard. You can access this information at anytime leading up to your trip.

For summer mission trips you must have a minimum of five participants to be eligible for a group. If you have less than five participants please contact our office. The maximum number of people will depend on location capacity and availability. Please call our office to learn more about the special requirements for spring mission trips.

Our office staff is available to help with this process. Please contact our office to learn more about how to reserve your spots. You can always add people to your group, as long as there is space available.

Next Step Ministries offers trips for middle school, high school, and college groups. Some trips are reserved for specific age groups and other trips are mixed ages. Please contact our office with your preferences and we will provide you with a list of available trips. Middle school trips are for students going into 6th, 7th, or 8th grade. High school trips are for students going into 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade. College trips are for ages 18-25.

Each location has a different max capacity, so please contact our office to learn more about spaces available. In the event that we are fully booked for the trip you are interested in, we can put you on a wait list or help find alternative trip options. To avoid these delays, we recommend registering for your trip as soon as you can!

The deposit is $50 per participant and due 30 days after online registration. The deposit is non-refundable and non-transferable. If you have any questions or concerns about this, please contact our office and we would be happy to discuss in more detail.

No, we do not affiliate with a particular denomination. Next Step Ministries is an interdenominational organization and we partner with hundreds of churches from all different denominations on our mission trips. Please see our Statement of Faithto learn more about what we believe. In simple terms, we stick to the basics of the Gospel. Our foundation for ministry is to provide opportunities for students to connect and grow in a personal relationship with Christ.

Next Step Ministries works alongside community leaders, non-profit organizations, and the local church in order to line up work projects. Next Step Partnership Coordinators live and serve within the community year round and are well connected. Next Step collaborates with the community to plan the projects you will be working on in advance.

A Next Step Partnership Coordinator facilitates community partnerships, lines up projects, leads the summer staff, and coordinates other logistics such as lodging and accommodations. The trip will be facilitated by 8-10 energetic, mission-minded, and highly trained college interns. The site staff will include a construction team, worship team, speaker, meal coordinators, and administrative leaders to guide you through the week.

You will most likely be attending a trip with 2-4 other youth groups. All groups will share sleeping quarters and we will have meals and worship together as a large group. Most of our mission site locations can accommodate for 80-100 volunteers each week. For work projects, we love to mix students and encourage new friendships to form, but also understand that many groups prefer not to have their group split up for different work projects. Please let our office staff know your preference and we will plan accordingly to accommodate your preferences.

During the mission trip it is important that we make every effort to dress respectfully, modestly, and appropriately. We will be working hard serving in the community so it is best to wear old, comfortable, and modest clothes. Please understand there may be different cultural norms in the other partnering churches and/or community you are visiting for one week. While certain clothing may be acceptable in your hometown, it might not be appropriate for the mission trip.

Please review the dress code below and pack accordingly. If you have any questions, please contact our office at missions@nextstepministries.com or 608-514-4051.

Shirts: All trip participants should wear either a short-sleeve or long-sleeve t-shirt on the work projects. You may wear tank tops or sleeveless shirts in the evening during free time, dinner, and worship. Tank tops must be modest. Please note, no spaghetti strap tank tops or ripped/torn cut-off shirts. All sleeveless shirts must have a hem.

Pants/Shorts: All trip participants should wear modest pants or shorts at all times on the mission trip. Please adhere to the following rules:

Please be mindful of the length of your shorts. Follow the “fingertip length” rule to determine if your shorts are appropriate length. To do this, stand with your arms straight at your side and place your palm against the side of your legs. The length of your shorts should be at your fingertips or longer. Spandex pants/shorts are NOT allowed on the mission trip at anytime. This includes yoga pants or spandex athletic shorts.

Bathing Suits

Ladies must wear a one-piece swim suit or wear a t-shirt over a two-piece swim suit. Males must wear swim trunks that are long enough for the “fingertip length” rule mentioned above.

The trip cost is the same for students and adults. The cost covers all meals, materials, and lodging. The only cost not included is for transportation. You will need to provide your own vehicle for every day of the trip.

The trip begins on Sunday evening. Please plan to arrive between 3:00-5:00 pm. Our friendly staff will welcome you with dinner and help you unload all of your bags. The trip concludes Saturday morning after breakfast and clean up. Please plan to depart by 9:00 am. We are happy to accommodate your travel plans so please contact our office if you need special arrival or departure plans. Please note the July 17-22 trip is scheduled as a Sunday-Friday trip and will conclude Friday morning at 9:00 am.